The Ultimate Guide To Twitter

Most educators who learn to use Twitter effectively say they learn more from their personal learning network (PLN) on Twitter than any other forms of professional development or personal learning.

Unfortunately, educators and other professionals often dismiss Twitter or fail to see its value when they’re first introduced to this social networking service. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to reconsider using Twitter and we’re here to help!

Introduction To Twitter

Twitter is a social networking, news, and microblogging service that allows you to send out short messages called tweets.

Along with text and links, tweets can also contain media (up to 4 photos, a video, or a GIF).

Tweets used to be limited to 140 characters but this increased to 280 characters by 2018.

Twitter is a place that you can just lurk, by reading others’ tweets, or contribute, by sending out your own tweets. Obviously, the latter is what you work towards as the more you put in, the more you get out!

You can read tweets without having your own Twitter account (as long as the accounts you’re following are public — and the majority are). To contribute, you will need an account which we will explain below.

Twitter is made up of tweets. We created this diagram to help you understand tweets better.

You’re welcome to share it with others or display it on your blog.

One of the great things about Twitter is that it is accessible on your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. You can use the native Twitter website or app, or there are many other popular third-party apps that aim to improve functionality and accessibility.

Tweetdeck was once an independent app that has now been acquired by Twitter. Many users enjoy using it to organize their feed.

Twitter is used by people in nearly every country around the world. 83% of 193 UN member countries have a Twitter presence. For teachers, this means you have access to thousands of educators with rich backgrounds and experiences that can contribute to your professional growth.

Sign Up For Your Account

You will be required to enter information such as your name and email address as you’re guided through the sign-up process.

Once you sign up for an account, you can select a unique username. Try to avoid making your username too long and make it something that identifies you, like your name, rather than a complex nickname. But don’t stress too much — your username can be changed anytime without affecting your Twitter account. You change your username by editing your profile information.

When you initially sign up for Twitter, it takes you through a series of steps where you can select people to follow. DON’T follow anyone when you first create your account. Set up your profile information and post a few tweets beforeyou follow anyone.

Before You Start Following Other People

Complete your bio so people know who you are. You have 160 characters for your bio. Educators often share the age group or subject they teach, and particular interests.

Add a profile photo. Real photos can be a better choice than a cartoon avatar or abstract image. It helps you to build your relationship with your PLN. Bios and photos can hold a lot of weight in virtual relationships.

You’ll also be able to add a header photo. Popular header images for teachers include landscapes, a classroom photo, or a quote. Tip: You can make a personalized Twitter header image with Canva.

Don’t start following people on Twitter until you’ve published some tweets! Most people won’t follow a person who has never been active so you may miss your chance to make a connection.

Tips On Who To Follow

You are subscribing to their tweets and their updates will appear in your home timeline

That person is able to send you a private direct message if you’re following each other

Following isn’t necessarily a reciprocal relationship, like Facebook friendships. Someone can follow you without you following them back and vice versa. You don’t need to wait for approval to follow someone either, as long as their account is public.

Our tips on getting started with following:

Choose about 100 people to follow initially. You can always add more as you go and this ensures you don’t feel too overwhelmed when starting out.

Find people to follow who have similar interests or who write blogs you enjoy. You might also like to follow people who share great information and links, or who willingly engage in conversations.

Follow a few people you know and follow who they follow. Look at who they chat with or check their Following list on their profile page.

Find a Twitter mentor who will help and guide you. Get them to ask their followers to add you.

You can always ask me to help by sending a tweet to @suewaters. Make sure when people do start adding you that add them back quickly and thank them for adding you to their account!!!

Don’t just follow anyone — follow those who have the same interests and who you like. Twitter also regularly shows you suggestions of people you might be interested in following.

Remember following does not have to be forever — you can regularly update/change who you follow to suit your needs.

Think about how you want to use Twitter: To follow the latest news? To follow other educators? To share what you know? To connect with others?

Participate or check out the different weekly hashtag conversations. They are a great way to find new people to follow (refer to hashtag information below).

Check out new followers before following. Look at their bio, how many people they are following, how many follow them and their latest tweets. This information helps you work out if they are the type of person you want to follow.

Check bio, following, followers and their latest tweets

There are thousands of teachers around the world on Twitter, you just have to know where to find them!

Tips for engaging in conversation

Twitter is very similar to a face to face conversation. Think of Twitter as a conversation with work colleagues in the lunch room. A mixture of small talk, relationship building, helping others, getting help and sharing is just as important on Twitter as it is in the lunch room.

Our tips for getting started with Twitter conversations:

Be patient. It takes time to build your Twitter network.

Use Twitter every day for four weeks, even if only for 5 minutes per day. Some people find that setting a goal of 15 minutes a day for the first few months helps.

Remember Twitter is a two-way conversation — you need to answer as much as you ask but most importantly share, share, share.

Participate and say something, anything. Don’t always expect people to always answer. It does depend on how many you follow and what you’re asking.

Get involved in the conversation. Don’t be afraid to reply and if you don’t get a response back, don’t be offended. It happens — you’ll soon see those that do/don’t engage in conversations.

Learn the Twitter language and how to use it well i.e. @, DM, #, hashtags, RT (see below)

Some people find it easier to use a Twitter app like TweetDeck (we’ll explain how to use this below).

Remember online is forever. If you didn’t want it online don’t say it in the first place.

Educators love following people who share great links since it saves them time.

You don’t have to keep up with everything that’s happening on Twitter! Don’t feel overwhelmed; this isn’t the way Twitter works. The river of tweets just keeps flowing day and night… you just dip your toes in whenever it suits you.

Twitter Language 101

Let’s break down the Twitter language. You’ll get the hang of it in no time!

Handle

Your Twitter username.

@reply and mentions

A @reply is used when a person is having a conversation with another tweeter. An @reply starts with the @username of the person who the tweet is directed at.

Example of a reply

You’ll only see @replies between two people if you follow both people or you are looking at another person’s tweet timeline.

You reply to a tweet by simply clicking on the Reply icon.

And then add your message!

Mentions are any Twitter update that contains “@username” anywhere in the body of a tweet.

For example, you use @username within a tweet when referring to specific Twitter users. All your Twitter followers are alerted to your tweets including @username provided the person who you mention isn’t using a private Twitter account.

Example of a mention. All of Peggy’s followers would have seen this.

Your @replies and mentions are located under Mentions on your Notification page.

Notification page

DM (also known as Direct Message)

Direct messages are private messages sent from one Twitter user to another. They can’t be seen by other users.

DMs are less restrictive than they use to be. As the BBC explained a few years ago,

Previously, direct messaging could only happen between two Twitter users who followed each other.

Users can now change the settings and opt to allow direct messages from any profile, including people or companies who don’t follow them.

The user can then reply with a direct message to the sender, but people can still block other users if they start abusing them or sending spam.

Direct messages are accessed by clicking on the Messages icon in the navigation bar via the web or on the Twitter app on your mobile device.

Click on Messages icon

# (Hashtags)

Any word starting with the “#” hash (pound) symbol is known as a hashtag. Hashtags make it easier to search and follow the Twitter conversations on specific topics.

We explain hashtags in more detail later in this guide.

Example of hashtags

RT (also known as a Retweet)

A Retweet is a re-posting of a tweet. It allows you to quickly share a tweet with all of your followers. Most people only Retweet tweets from someone else although you can Retweet your own tweets.

Sometimes people type “RT” at the beginning of a tweet to indicate that they are re-posting someone else’s content or they just press the RT symbol (two arrows) under a tweet. This is the simplest way.

You can retweet a tweet without comment or add your own annotation like in the example below.

Example of a Retweet

You won’t always see “RT” at the start of a retweet as it does depend on what Twitter client you are using (e.g. the Twitter website or something like TweetDeck). Some clients automatically enclose the Tweet in quotes while other clients may add “via” and the original tweeter’s username at the end of the tweet.

MT (also known as a modified tweet)

Any tweet starting with “MT” means someone is re-tweeting someone else’s tweet but have modified the tweet. MT isn’t as common as RT.

A Retweet might be modified to make the tweet fit, to focus on the key message from the tweet, or to add your extra thoughts to the conversation.

With increased functionality on Twitter and double the characters allowed in a tweet than in previous years, you’re unlikely to see many MTs.

Like

Likes are represented by a heart icon on the tweet and are used when a Tweeter wants to save (refer) to a tweet later or show their appreciation of a tweet.

We can see in this example, 14 people have liked the tweet

When you like a tweet, the original person who posted the tweet is usually notified that you liked their tweet. You access the tweets you have liked by clicking on Likes in the navigation bar via the web.

Search and trends

Learning how to search Twitter well is a key skill for getting the most out of Twitter. You can search for any person, keyword, hashtag etc. using the search box in the admin bar via the web or using the Twitter app.

In the Twitter app on a phone, it also lists Trends for you and what’s happening when you click on Search. You’ll see the same thing when you’re using the web version of Twitter. These trends are customized based on your location and who you follow.

See what’s trending on Twitter from the web version of Twitter

Try it out for yourself! Click on one of the items in your trending list and go through the most popular tweets.

Or, next time there’s an important news story locally or globally, search for the name of the location or event and check out the latest tweets as it is being reported.

When there is a popular education conference happening, you’ll often see the hashtag trending as well. This is a great way to get involved!

Search in the Twitter app on a phone

Notifications and Mentions

The Notifications page offers a simple way to see how others on Twitter are interacting with you.

An icon will show you when you have new notifications.

Click on Notifications in the navigation bar via the web or on the Twitter app on your mobile device and you’ll see all tweets directed to you (@replies and mentions), new followers, your Tweets that have been liked by other users, and any Twitter lists you’ve been added to.

Click on the Mentions tab on the Notifications page if you only want to see your @replies and mentions.

Notification page

If you click on your profile image on the web version of Twitter and go to settings > notifications, you can customize the notifications you want to be alerted to.

Interacting With Tweets

The person’s name to see their profile page. You can look at their bio and see all their tweets.

Follow to have the tweeter’s future tweets show up on your homepage.

A link (if there is one) to open a website in your browser.

A hashtag to see other tweets that are categorized with the same hashtag (regardless of whether you follow the people using that hashtag)

Like (the heart) — this shows your appreciation, agreement, or acknowledgment of the tweet. Simply, tap/click the heart to like the tweet (tap/click again to undo). Some people use likes to save tweets to refer back to.

Retweet to share the tweet with your own followers. This demonstrates that you found the tweet interesting or shareworthy. You will also have the option to add a comment to the retweet.

Direct message — you can message someone privately or start a private group conversation. Depending on individual settings, you might only be able to direct message someone if you both follow each other.

Comments — this allows you to either read what other people have said in a public reply, or add your own reply.

You’ll need to spend some time checking out the stream of tweets and getting the hang of tweeting, retweeting, direct messaging, and hashtags.

Some people say Twitter isn’t as intuitive as other web tools but it doesn’t take long for it to make sense. Give yourself a few weeks to try it. Whenever you have a few spare minutes, open Twitter, scroll through your feed, click on some links, watch how people are interacting with each other.

If the people you’re following don’t interest you, it’s fine to unfollow them. Remember, you’re in charge of building your own personal PLN.

When you’ve lurked for a while, jump and contribute! Like or retweet a few tweets, reply to tweets that resonated with you, and send tweets of your own. You could try contacting a few people via direct message too — ask them a question or introduce yourself.

It may take some time to get the hang of how Twitter works. We’ve made this cheat sheet to help. Feel free to share it with others or use it on your own blog.

Remember, the more you put in, the more you get out.

Don’t be afraid to start replying to people, retweeting tweets, asking questions, and striking up conversations.

Many teachers on Twitter are very friendly and always happy to help newbies find their feet!

Make Your Tweets Stand Out

Once you get the hang of the basics, you might want to start considering how you can get your tweets to stand out more.

You can just share a simple link but is this really going to be noticed in a busy stream of tweets?

Compare these two tweets about the same post and consider which one would stand out more…

Images, emojis, quotes, summaries of information, GIFs, videos etc. all help to make a tweet stand out and encourage others to read it, share it, engage with you, follow you, and/or click on the link to the post.

Examples Of Interesting Tweets From Educators On Twitter

Tony Vincent is well known for his graphics he creates for social media. These are always shared extensively.

Sketchnoting has taken the edtech world by storm over the last few years. Julie Woodard is well known for her excellent sketchnotes which are a great way to visualize and summarize content. Here’s an example:

Public vs Protected Accounts

By default, when you sign up for Twitter your account is public and anyone can see your tweets.

Some Twitter users prefer to use protected Twitter accounts where their updates are kept private; only approved followers can see their tweets. You change your privacy options in Settings > Privacy and Safety.

There are people who won’t follow someone who uses a protected Twitter account.

For those who won’t follow protected Twitter accounts, it is important to understand there are numerous reasons why an educator use a protected account and it might not be related to concerns of posting an inappropriate tweet.

If you have a protected account, your followers won’t be able to Retweet your tweets and if you reply to someone who isn’t following you, they won’t see your reply.

Getting More Out Of Twitter Using Twitter Clients

Many people say using a Twitter client or app is a MUST as they provide instant notification of the latest updates and offer an easy way to respond to tweets.

Some people prefer to use the standard web version of Twitter, especially when starting out (to access this you just go to https://twitter.com/ in your web browser)

Which Twitter client you use is personal. There used to be a plethora of options but Twitter has cracked down on some third-party apps and prefers users to use the web version or TweetDeck (which they now own).

Getting Started With TweetDeck

Tweetdeck was once an independent app that has now been acquired by Twitter.

Many users enjoy using it to organize their feed since you can add extra columns to filter and organize conversations as well as manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts.

To get started with TweetDeck you just need to:

1. Go to https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/

2. Sign in with your Twitter account.

Use your personal Twitter account that isn’t shared with other people (ie. if you have a work account that you share with others, don’t use that). Once you have signed in, you can connect multiple Twitter accounts to your TweetDeck account.

3. Below is a summary of the main features of TweetDeck.

4. Click Compose a tweet icon to write your tweet.

5 Here’s a quick overview of what each icon on a tweet does.

Clicking on the More icon reveals other options.

6. You can move a column, customize, change alerts, and delete columns by clicking on the down arrow on a column.

Getting Started With The Twitter App

About Twitter Moments

A Twitter moment is a collection of tweets that is curated together in an easy share format.

Twitter moments were originally used by Twitter to share curated content categorized into five areas — today, news, sport, entertainment, and fun. Twitter aimed to share the most engaging conversations on Twitter. The purpose was to make news events easier to find and follow.

Twitter moments are my main daily news source because moments are the fastest way of finding out the latest news as it is happening.

You check the latest trending moments by clicking on Moments in the navigation bar via the web or by tapping on Search in the Twitter app on your phone.

You read a moment by clicking on the title of the moment to scroll through the curated tweets.

How To Post Links

People often share links to all sorts of things: blog posts they’ve written or read, articles they’ve enjoyed, online tools they recommend and so on.

It’s common to see links posted on Twitter appear as shortened links because it makes it easier to include a URL within the 280 character Twitter limit.

Previously, if you wanted a shortened link when writing a tweet on the Twitter.com web interface you had to use a URL shortening services, such as tinyurl.com and bit.ly, and then paste the shortened link into the tweet box on Twitter.com.

Twitter has now introduced automatic link shortening which means you no longer need to use a third-party service to shorten your links. All links posted into the compose box on Twitter.com, TweetDeck, and the mobile Twitter app are automatically shortened.

Link shorted using Bit.lyLink shorted by Twitter

Some Twitter clients automatically shorten links for you using services such as bit.ly.

While you can continue to use another URL shortening service, the benefits of using Twitter’s automatic link shortening include:

It’s quicker.

Unlike other URL shorteners, Twitter’s shortener, t.co, creates a link that is a shortened version of the original link and includes the full domain name so your followers will know the site they are going to when they click the link.

Shortened links are a common method used to hacked Twitter accounts. URLs converted by Twitter’s link service are checked against potentially dangerous sites — this is designed to help protect users from malicious, phishing and offensive links.

When you click on the hashtagged word or phrase, such as #STUBC in the tweet we’ve embedded above, a new page will load with tweets from everyone who is tweeting about STUBC— whether or not you follow those people.

Hashtags can’t have any spaces so math chat becomes #mathchat.

Hashtags are also commonly used at conferences to share thoughts on presentations, organize meetups, and coordinate after-parties.

What Hashtag Should I Use?

You can use any hashtag you like, however, if it’s not being used by others then people won’t be following it or searching for it. So to get the most out of hashtags, you should usually use ones that others are using.

Note that hashtags are not created by Twitter, but by Twitter users. Often if there is an event going on, the organizers will publish the official hashtag on the conference materials and social media.

For example, when ISTE 2018 (edtech conference) was happening, ISTE tweeted out the official hashtag:

Are you following the official hashtag for #ISTE18? Watch for behind the scenes content, tag your posts to share YOUR learning journey and find new connections! pic.twitter.com/V8UnYN2Wsu

10 Tips For Using Hashtags

Do not place hashtags in front of keywords in your tweet for no real reason.

Excessive overuse of hashtags can make you look like a Twitter spammer.

People often use one or two hashtags in a tweet. If you’re used to using Instagram you’ll notice that hashtags on tweets are used more sparingly than on Instagram.

Hashtag are for referencing events, news, software, or memes, not for random words.

Commonly used hashtags such as #edchat or #edtech are great for finding new people and conversations you would never have discovered otherwise.

If you use hashtags well, people who are not following you may see your tweets and follow you.

Always check the hashtag you’re planning to use by searching Twitter Search or use a free tool like hashtagify.me to make sure it isn’t already being used for another purpose.

Set up a search for hashtags using your Twitter client to make it easier to engage in the conversations (see video below).

Some people like to use hashtags in a humorous way like #ILoveHolidays or #SendEarplugs. This can be fun occasionally but don’t go overboard! These examples aren’t hashtags that anyone would follow or search, they’re just used light-heartedly to add a humorous effect. Less is more.

You don’t have to keep running the same search for hashtags you want to follow regularly. See below.

Learning how to use hashtags well, and who you follow, are key skills for getting the most out of Twitter.

You can type a hashtagged keyword in the search bar on Twitter to discover tweets and accounts based on your interests. There are easier ways to follow hashtags so you don’t have to keep running the same search.

TweetDeck is commonly used to follow hashtags that you want to keep track of regularly (the Twitter search bar is fine if you just want to do one-off searches).

Participating In Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are where educators meet at a set ‘meeting time’ to engage in conversations by sending out tweets on a topic using a designated hashtag.

The hashtag is the glue that brings the chat together. It’s essential. Otherwise, people would be tweeting out responses that might not be seen by any of the participants.

Most Twitter chats last for an hour and they’re run at the same time each week or month.

During the Twitter chat, you’ll see educators tweet their responses in real time. The best way to participate in a Twitter chat is to set up a search for the hashtag in TweetDeck, Hootsuite, or in the Twitter app on your mobile device. Some people also use tchat.

Note: Twitter chats are popular with the teaching community but the concept isn’t exclusive to education. There are Twitter chats for other niches like marketing, fitness, writing, parenting etc.

Created by Ditch That Textbook author Matt Miller. The chat focuses on innovative teaching ideas. Takes place on Tuesdays from 9 PM EST. Find out more.

I Can’t Keep Up With A Twitter Chat

Tweets can fly fast in a Twitter chat! Don’t worry if you can’t keep up.

Here are some tips to help:

Archives: Moderators often archive or curate the information and resources shared during the chat session. This used to be through tools like Storify but this service has closed. Sometimes a tool like Wakelet is now used or there will be a specific website or blog for a Twitter chat.

Be prepared: Moderators often publish the questions that will be asked in advance so you can think ahead. You can also get your Tweetdeck (or other app) set up before a chat so you’re ready to go.

Be selective: You don’t need to answer every question. Twitter chats are very flexible. They often go for an hour but no one minds how long you stay or how involved you are.

Follow up: If you were interested in what someone had to say but you found the tweets were flying too fast, don’t worry. You can resume the conversation with people at any time.

Bookmark: A relatively new feature of Twitter for mobile is Bookmarks (it’s rolling out on the web version too). You can bookmark Tweets you’d like to refer to later. Tap the share icon next to a tweet and select Add Tweet to Bookmarks. Tap Bookmarks from your profile icon menu to access your saved tweets.

Like: If you like a tweet by pressing on the heart, you can go back and look at these later. Just click on the Likes from your profile icon menu.

Lurk: It’s fine to just watch a few chats before you decide to contribute. The first question is generally an introduction so don’t be afraid to say it’s your first time participating either.

You’ll also notice that Twitter chat hashtags are often used outside of the designated time frame to share resources, ask questions and help each other. The hashtag becomes a community!

Here’s an example of questions being posted in advance for #NT2t chat.

Create And Use Twitter Lists

A great aspect of Twitter is you can organize other Twitter users into groups called ‘lists’. When you view a list, you’ll see a Twitter stream of all the users that are included in that group.

The benefits of Twitter lists are twofold:

1. They help you organize who you’re following

Lists let you organize your followers into different groups of people and/or areas of interest. Instead of trying to listen to what all your Twitter followers are saying, you can focus on the key conversations by the main people whose tweets you want to read.

This reduces the noise created when you’re following lots of users. It saves you time and lets you quickly connect with those you most want to interact with.

Twitter clients and the Twitter.com web interface are designed to let you quickly check your Twitter lists.

Twitter list from profile page

2. They help other Twitter users

Twitter lists can be public or private. A public Twitter list can be viewed by anyone and other Twitter users can quickly follow your list or choose people from your list to follow.

A private list and the list members can only be viewed by you.

Public list also highlight who other Twitter users recommend as worth following. If you look at a user’s profile in TweetDeck it displays the number of lists a user has been added to.

Twitter lists are handy if you’re running a workshop on using Twitter, or want to encourage your students to follow specific Twitter users. It’s as simple as creating the list and then getting them to either follow the list or the users on the list.

Tips:

You don’t need to be following someone to add them to a list.

Subscribing to someone’s list doesn’t mean you’re now following all users on that list. You’ll just see the tweets from users when you view that list. You need to click follow next a user if you want to follow them and have their tweets appear in your Twitter timeline.

Customizing your Twitter profile

You can also pin a Tweet that other people will see when they visit your profile. For bloggers, this is often a tweet about a recent or popular blog post. Some people pin a tweet that particularly resonates with them or demonstrates their teaching philosophy.

Click on the dropdown arrow on the tweet you want to pin and select Pin to your profile page.

Shiftlinks — creates an RSS feed of your links posted by your Twitter followers which you can subscribe to using an feed reader such as Feedly. This works works well when following a small number of people.

Paper-li can be set up to send an automatic tweet of your daily newspaper and identify the source of your top stories of the day based on RTs, Favorites etc. A similar popular tool if you want a daily email digest of the most popular tweets in your network is Nuzzel.

Flipboard is popular for anyone using a mobile device because it allows you to easily read, share, bookmark, and retweet links from within the Flipboard app. Learn more about using Flipboard here.

Using Twitter With Students

Educators aren’t just using Twitter for their personal learning; they are also using it in innovative ways in their classrooms. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of class and school Twitter accounts over recent years.

Set up a classroom Twitter account separate from your personal Twitter account. Some teachers allow their students to log in to the class Twitter account during class to compose tweets but the tweets aren’t allowed to be sent until checked by the teacher or an adult.

If you decide to use a hashtag specific to your school or classroom community make sure it isn’t being used by others. (Search on Twitter or on hastagify.me)

Carefully select who you follow as students will see all tweets by any account you are following. Drew Frank’s Classroom Twitter list can be used to find other class Twitter accounts to follow.

Make sure parents are aware you are using Twitter in class and check your school’s policies to find out if parent’s need to sign a permission form.

Carefully consider whether you want to use images of students on Twitter and ensure you have permission. Read more about using images of students online here.

14 Comments

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Ladies, why have I never seen this before…asleep with eyes wide open! Thank you, thank you, for all the work you put into this. I learned even more about Twitter, and now know how I can utilize TweetDeck so much better, especially the scheduling feature.
Barbara

Hi Barbara,
So glad it helped! It was a real team effort to put this together and I think Sue and I both learnt a few things from each other as well. Well done for getting through such a long post too! 🙂
Kathleen

I really enjoyed the anatomy of a tweet portion. Although I have used twitter in the past, it seems to continue to change with every update. A simple break down of all of the buttons are always appreciated. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the emoji function is relatively new to twitter.

So glad this was helpful for you, Erica! Good question about emojis. I can’t remember when Twitter didn’t have emojis so I feel like it has been a few years. But I might be wrong too. Someone else might be able to fill us in! 🙂

Sometimes when looking at a tweet that I have made, I see that there is a reply, but when I click on the speech bubble or the number next to the speech bubble, it does not open a thread or show a comment, but instead opens a space for me to make a comment. I find this very frustrating. Can you help?

Hi Rachel,
I know what you mean — I’ve done this myself too. You need to click somewhere on the body of the tweet to open up the tweet with the thread of replies. If you click on the speech bubble, the replies are often hidden.
Does that help?

Thank you! I am wondering how to get more than the URL link in the tweet… how do people include the clickable image with opening line of blog/article to be included in their tweets? When I tweet out a post, all that goes with it is the shortened url.

Can you tell me the citation/source for this finding? “Most educators who learn to use Twitter effectively say they learn more from their personal learning network (PLN) on Twitter than any other forms of professional development or personal learning.”

I’m currently taking a class on integrating technology in the classroom and I found your blog to be extremely helpful. I’m hoping to integrate some of the ideas you have listed as I think they can be beneficial to my students and I.